Zombie defense/survival

[Johannes Ghee]

(Dammit, am I too late for this?)

I've always thought that in the event of a worst-case scenario zombie outbreak, "living" humanity at least would be completely wiped out.

However, I have assessed the family home in the event of a lesser outbreak, and have found it lacking. The boundary walls are too low, and while we are mostly surrounded by Fields with chest-high stone walls, they can be knocked over quite easily. Also the house is a bungalow and the only way to the roof from the inside would be with the aid of an awkwardly-wielded sledgehammer.

But I live in the city now, near a college, and my sketchy plans have thus been modified. The college is a three-minute downhill sprint away, and has a narrow courtyard running the length of the old building with huge heavy security gates at either end. A lot of the windows into the building are quite small (except for the new addition which has an easily-blockable corridor leading to the old section anyway), and the few outer doors are hefty. There are training kitchens and workshops on the campus, as well as a gym with archery equipment (pitiful ranged weapons that they are, until better can be manufactured). As to the standing population, surely students have more knowledge of zombies than your average Joe? We live on a western coastline, and perhaps forraging runs can be made while a strong gale is blowing? Traditionally zombies have not been known for their balance.

This is where I get a bit silly and start entertaining notions of sealing off the smaller old city streets, placing snipers on the roof of the shopping center, sleeping in the upper stories of townhouses and travelling via rooftops. And we have a busy harbor...

Spoiler: ShowHide

This is a hurling stick, from the popular Irish sport. Sufficiently reinforced and adapted, I believe it would make a formidable anti-anything weapon, and still be light enough to carry in a sling or holster. Opinions?

[Gentlemens Handbook]

I have two weapons that I would wield against the zombie hoard.

The first is a 4 foot crowbar I found at a junkyard, I wrapped the lower half in golf grip tape.

The second is the concrete bat. My friend and I had this idea to make the ultimate destructive bat. We were planning on cutting of the end cap of an aluminum bat, and pouring cement inside. A few months after we had the idea, we were dumpster diving around some scrap yards and I saw a bat handle within the scraps. When I retrieved it I was ecstatic to discover that someone had the same idea.

It's name is smashy.

[Prof. Friedrich VonHart, PhD]

I have to agree with a previous poster about aluminum bats being ideal. Unless you're Mr. universe (not that you're not) swinging a concrete bat for more than five minutes would be exhausting. Not to mention that the thing's gotta weigh 10-20 lbs. That's a huge burden when you're fleeing the zombie horde.

[Gentlemens Handbook]

Agreed, but what fun it is.

[Prof. Friedrich VonHart, PhD]

Not a bad thing to keep in the car for a quick one-two at the onset of the outbreak to make your escape, but I'd dump it quick.

[porkdemon]

whooooo i just found this thread, and what a wonderfull thread it is, firstly it is wonderfull because it has assured me that im not the only one with a zombie survival plan, haha take that kids at school.

This is where I get a bit silly and start entertaining notions of sealing off the smaller old city streets, placing snipers on the roof of the shopping center, sleeping in the upper stories of townhouses and travelling via rooftops.

sir that is a perfectly feasable way to move around, i myself have figgured out that a person with as little balance as myself can happily manouver across fencelines like a typewrope walker, yes it does look humerous as i am a large fellow, but it works rather well, the only problem with this is when you come to a street corner how do cross the gap, only then do you have to decend to the level of the ZOMBIES (crack of lightning and thunder).

im not sure if anyone has brought this up, i only glanced at a few posts on a few pages, has anyone said how they think it will originate, i think biological warfare, some sort of virus ala 28 days (and weeks) later.

[Churchwarden]

Considering the origination of said infestation, I believe the roots of the creature might need be explored a bit. I thought I would post a bit of my own research to aid in this...

zom•bie

Pronunciation: (zom'bE),
—n.
1. (in voodoo)
  a. the body of a dead person given the semblance of life, but mute and will-less, by a supernatural     force, usually for some evil purpose.
  b. the supernatural force itself.
2. Informal.
  a. a person whose behavior or responses are wooden, listless, or seemingly rote; automaton.
  b. an eccentric or peculiar person.
3. a snake god worshiped in West Indian and Brazilian religious practices of African origin.
4. a tall drink made typically with several kinds of rum, citrus juice, and often apricot liqueur.
5. Canadian Slang.an army conscript assigned to home defense during World War II.


In accordance with available information, I believe we can narrow zombies into eight categories:

1.) Toxic Zombies
Brought back by radiation, biological agents, or chemicals; usually flesh-eating,
this is by far the most common type of zombie portrayed in films. Quite often the government has something to do with the 'birth' of these. Watch out for Army trucks with barrels on the back going through your town!

2.) Demon Zombies
Reanimated by demon, devil or other evil spirit.

3.) Voodoo/Black Magic Zombies
Brought back by a houngan or bokor (a voodoo master).

4.) Diseased Zombies
Vague type spread by infection, such as by the bite of the Sumatran rat monkey.

5.) Unsettled Zombies
Return because of some unfinished business of some sort, usually revenge or love.

6.) Alien Zombies
Brought back by aliens; usually to serve them as an aid in taking over the Earth.

7.) Techno Zombies
Reanimated by technology; implanting a computer chip in the brain, etc.

8.) Electric Zombies
Brought back by a shock from electricity of some sort.

Now obviously, there are some options more realistic than others, but it never hurts to be prepared for any eventuality.

Known Behavioral Characteristics

• Zombies primarily crave human flesh.
• They will consume living or freshly killed bodies.
• Zombies have also been known to consume other living organisms although this is irregular.
• Zombies appear to be able to discern the difference between another zombie and a living human based on sight only.
• Zombies will not attack each other although they have been known to fight over food.
• Zombies often frequent places they are familiar with from their normal life.
• Zombies may be quite weak in the initial stages of reanimation. In Night and Dawn, generally people could run in amongst them without much danger.
• They seem to increase in strength over time. By Day of the Dead, people are not so capable of breaking free from them once a zombie has hold of you. They are also capable of tearing apart a human being with apparent ease. In Day of the Dead, the zombies were strong enough to tear a man in half and tear a man's head off.
• Zombies retain some knowledge or memories from past lives.
• A dead body will rise within a few hours unless the brain is destroyed.
• Zombies appear largely incapable of normal speech. Some specimens have retained very rudimentary ability in this area.
• Some zombies appear to be capable of simple reasoning or have a limited intellectual capacity.

Zombie Physiology
The next step is to analyze in more detail the aspects of their physiology. This information was either stated in the movie or can be determined based on observation.

• A zombie must have the brain damaged by an exterior source in order to terminate its existence.
  
• The reanimation only seems to affect humans.
• The bodies remain animated for a period of up to 10 years before decay threatens the mobility of the limbs.
• The normal decay process is drastically slowed down or inhibited.
• Fluid levels within the organism appear to be maintained, otherwise the animated corpse would simply dry up and be unable to function. Yet we never see a zombie drinking water or liquid, except through the consumption of food.
• A zombie does not require food for sustenance. A zombie with all its internal organs removed will continue to function. It has not been indicated to what extent the removal/damage of the internal organs will affect the longevity of the reanimated person.
• A zombie can also function without the normal flow of blood, since it has been remarked that the heart stops beating. This critical fact means that cells are not supplied with nutrients and fluid in the normal manner. Yet the cell structure seems to remain intact over a period of years.
• I do not think there is any evidence to conclusively support the notion that a zombie bite alone will cause reanimation. A zombie bite may cause death in a human. But the body itself may become reanimated for the same reason that bodies became reanimated in the first place (disease/radiation/etc).
• Reanimation may not necessarily be caused directly by a zombie bite. Alternatively it may be observed that an uninfected human rarely survives a bite.

Explanation for Reanimation

Before continuing, it may be important to discuss the source of the reanimation, since this may give us some insights into what causes the zombies to function. Note that in the original Night, speculation centered on the destruction by NASA of one of its probes to Venus. The probe was found to be carrying a strange radiation with it, and this may be the likely cause for reanimation. However we must not rule out other possibilities. The potential causes for reanimation are:

• An alien virus that came to this planet from outer space (via meteorite/comet/NASA).
• A man-made virus created in a laboratory that perhaps mutated and was accidentally released.
• An attempt at biological warfare that went drastically wrong.
• A large-scale radioactive or chemical leakage.
• Judgment Day - punishment by God - theological reasons.

The question then becomes: how do the zombies function? What allows them to defy the laws of nature by remaining animated and mobile for so long without decaying? What causes them to desire human flesh?
For those who are inclined to take the religious explanation, this pretty much rules out trying to come up with an explanation for any of these, since applying a logical explanation to theological forces is a futile argument. The zombies were sent as a punishment for man. Or perhaps the concept that hell had reached is limits may prove to be correct.
For those less inclined to take a theological reason, the most likely possibility for reanimation would be an alien virus. The effects were noticed on a global scale and in a short amount of time. This means the virus would have been spread through the atmosphere initially, rather than by a host organism, such as occurred with the black plague.
The virus mostly likely altered cell structure in a manner that counteracted decay, as well as increasing longevity without the normal requirements of air, water and energy. The reanimated corpse would then have initiated some form of overall operation, at both the cellular level, and at the higher levels. The driving force is still clearly the brain, which continues to operate in a semi-normal manner. Signals for coordination and mobility were still being issued from the brain via the nerves, and implemented by the muscles.

Why Do Zombies Crave Human Flesh?

This is the most difficult question of all if we ignore a theological explanation.
It is one thing to accept that an alien virus can adjust cell structure and affect a human being such that it causes reanimation with altered functionality. But why then does the zombie itself desire to eat human flesh? Something most humans would never consider in normal life?
The infected brain clearly has some processing and reasoning capability. Perhaps each zombie reverts to a basic carnivorous nature and simply desires to consume any living creature. Although never indicated to any extent in the films, it is highly likely that a zombie would attack any living creature within the vicinity, including domestic and wild animals. It is not specifically targetting human prey.
However in the initial stages of zombie infiltration, where zombies were reanimating in the midst of normal society and in populated areas, human prey just happened to be the most abundant. And the zombie itself, with its limited reasoning power, may simply associate another human as the highest candidate for prey, since they associated mostly with others humans during their life prior to reanimation.

Please feel free to add to this if it looks like I may have overlooked something.

[Miss Gadget]

Nice.

[TristanRenn]

Why Do Zombies Crave Human Flesh?

This is the most difficult question of all if we ignore a theological explanation.
It is one thing to accept that an alien virus can adjust cell structure and affect a human being such that it causes reanimation with altered functionality. But why then does the zombie itself desire to eat human flesh? Something most humans would never consider in normal life?
The infected brain clearly has some processing and reasoning capability. Perhaps each zombie reverts to a basic carnivorous nature and simply desires to consume any living creature. Although never indicated to any extent in the films, it is highly likely that a zombie would attack any living creature within the vicinity, including domestic and wild animals. It is not specifically targetting human prey.
However in the initial stages of zombie infiltration, where zombies were reanimating in the midst of normal society and in populated areas, human prey just happened to be the most abundant. And the zombie itself, with its limited reasoning power, may simply associate another human as the highest candidate for prey, since they associated mostly with others humans during their life prior to reanimation.

Please feel free to add to this if it looks like I may have overlooked something.

Why do zombies crave human flesh? Well, if we presume your explanation (there must be hundreds of variant theories) that zombism (?) is caused by a virus, then the reason is really quite clear: to spread the virus to new hosts (and as the virus is manifest in humans we might presume that humans are the ideal host.

[Churchwarden]

A sensible theory to be sure. In that case, what biological aspect of the human organism would separate us from other forms of life, considering especially that aside from our size and population density, we may not be the choicest organism for a virus that compells one toward a carnivorous appetite. I imagine animal zombies to be quite terrifying, such as the dogs from Resident Evil and C.H.U.D., and the ravens from the newest Resident Evil.

Rattlesnake zombies and other reptiles would be a frightening foe!

[Sir Nikolas of Vendigroth]

Teslaic thread-resurrectotron activated!
Can we explore the details of setting up a long-term reclaimed civilisation some more? I'd suggest some sort of walled village, slowly expanding outwards. I'd assume that the cities would be a no-go area for a while, due to continued infestation.

[akumabito]

Woohoo, thread brought back from the dead!

Yes, let us indulge in some more mental masturbation regarding the undead..

Two words: Shipping containers

Yes, they are ugly, but they are also tough, durable and incredibly useful. ou can haul 'm around, you can live in 'm. You can weld the doors shut and make a sturdy boat. Best of all: they are entirely modular, easy to stack and incredibly strong when stacked properly. Salvage some containers, loot their contents and use them for makeshift housing. then go about and get some more containers and stack 'm up around your little village. A wall three containers high will be pretty much impregnable for zombies and most other unwanted guests..

[Sir Nikolas of Vendigroth]

They're also fairly easy to come by, there's whole ports full of the damn things, all with swag and booty inside. Dibs on the one with the rum in.

I'm afraid someone's already beaten you to the idea of using them for accomodation, though.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7176594.stm

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=506794&in_page_id=1770

just the kind of ingenuity that fits in well 'round here.

[akumabito]

It is by no means a new idea.. I have seen all sorts of interesting projects using containers. They really are very versatile. And even if you want to buy the things as opposed to salvaging/stealing them, they aren't all that expensive. A 40ft container typically goes for $2000 to $3500 depending on condition..

[akumabito]

Also have a looky here and here

[Sir Nikolas of Vendigroth]

Just like giant zombie-proof lego!

[Prof. Friedrich VonHart, PhD]

The Zombie thread again rises from the grave!

Has any one seen Fido? I saw it last night, it's about a circa 1950s society after a zombie invasion, where a company, ZomCon, has created zombie collars that allow the zombies to be helpful members of society, as long as the red light stays on. It's actually a comedy, and I enjoyed it throughly!

School Children: "[singing] In the brain and not the chest. Head shots are the very best. "

Trailer here

[Doctor Trakov]

cargo containers welded together?
Gmod 

[akumabito]

  Gmod

[Atterton]

This board has too many silly internet expressions.

[Doctor Trakov]

Gmod

garry's mod:
A sandbox modification for Half-life 2, developed by Garry Newman.
In the game, HL:2 props can be manipulated in such a way that complex contraptions can be made.

[akumabito]

Ahh, I see.. So you're going to build a container fortress then?

[Doctor Trakov]

Yes.
On wheels.
>:3

[akumabito]

...how much flexibility do you have with the sandbox mod? Do you have container models in a library? Can you simulate weather conditions?

Some time ago, in one of those "steampunk colonization" threads, I proposed welding a bunch of 40ft containers together to form an artificial island.. see if you can model that and throw it in an ocean, then let all hell break loose.. 5 containers wide and 5 containers long should do..

[Doctor Trakov]

The environment in gmod is set, like that of HL:2 unless you use Lua, but you can mess around with the props and tools as much as you like as long as it is within the constraints of the source code. It can be bought over Steam.
Here's the blog of the guy who made it.
http://www.garry.tv/